Three Things You Can Do to Help Your Child Do Better in School Essay (Article)

Importance of education

The place of education cannot be overestimated in the modern world. Elder people understand that knowledge is one of the main ways for success in the future. Those who have profound knowledge in different spheres and specialize in one specific field can achieve high results in their careers.

But, this information is available and understood by parents, children are not so conversant with this issue. Thus, it is possible to conclude that parents are those who should encourage and help their children study. There are a lot of different strategies which may be helpful for parents in this question, but there are three main things each parent should do to help a child to do better at school.

Children’s success depends on their parents

One cannot reject that each child has a right to attend public school and succeed there. All parents want their children to be prosperous and they are to help them. School education is the process which should be guided by parents. Much research has been provided in the sphere of the connection between school and home. Scientists have proved that school-home collaboration in the questions of a child’s studying is useful.

Close connection between school and home enhance students’ desire to study as they see that parents support them in this difficult but really interesting initiative.^[1] The research conducted by Jan Hughes and Oi-man Kwok^[2] shows that children study better when they see collaboration between parents and school. Thus, if children’s success also depends on the actions of their parents, they should act.

We would like to offer a list of three main things parents should do to help their children do better at school. First of all, parents should make sure that their children use modern textbooks, up-to-date sources and innovative technologies, like computers and the Internet. Second, parents should motivate their children to study and explain that school is not the only place where they can learn.

It is necessary to deliver the idea that learning is an interesting and exciting process which does not finish with leaving school. Third, parents should create special room for studying and set particular hours for this process. These actions help parents influence their children’s psychological needs and make those interested in studying on unconscious level.^[3]

Up-to-date information and innovative technologies

Innovative technologies have entered human life so strong that it is impossible to imagine a house without a computer and the Internet. The Internet allows students get new information as soon as possible. Moreover, fast change of the information becomes available for students.

In comparison with the time when the Internet was not created, students had to buy books and use those for many years. Nowadays, many books and other sources are republished almost every year. Parents should check the books their children use and do all possible to get the most recent editions.

Parents should follow this process. Furthermore, parents have an opportunity to sign for journals with the necessary information. At the same time, it is important to check what information children read. Having too much available data, parents should set control on the sites children visit and the sources they download. Thus, having personal computers children should provide their parents with free access.

The use of the innovative technologies in the educational process should be supported. Parents are to consider children’s curriculum and try to get additional programs and software aimed at increasing students’ knowledge in the form of games. There are also a lot of tests which may be used as additional source of knowledge.^[4]

But, using this kind of software parents should not go too far. Children should use the Internet as the source of entertainment as well, otherwise, they will lose the interest and the studying will become a torture for them, even with the use of the innovative technologies.^[5] So, the first thing parents should do to help their children is to provide those with the most recent information and direct the use of the computers and the Internet to the learning purposes.

Strong motivation

Parents play important part in students’ motivation. There are a lot of different ways how they can influence their children. Personal experience, school recollections, reasonable arguments and other means of motivation may be used for encouraging children study better. Motivation is a strong factor in education. Parents should remember that they are to encourage their children for studying constantly reminding them that their success depends on knowledge they are able to get at school.

Motivation is the basis for any action and students should be reminded the main purpose of their school attendance.^[6] Parents are free to motivate their children in different ways. They should remind that school is not the final stage of education and the whole life will bring children new lessons to study. Children should feel that education is not only obligatory, it is the thing they like and are ready to accept as nothing is made without the desire.^[7]

Parents, who were successful in school, have managed to get good education and now remain successful in their careers and social life positively influenced their children.^[8] The difference between vocational and academic education dos not play crucial role in the motivational reasoning. It is important that parents should have positive recollections and great achievements in the present time. Children in this case will desire to repeat the success their children have.

This is like the behavior on the basis of the personal experience, but deeper. Children not only try to copy the behavior of their parents relaying on parental guarantees that it is useful, they have an opportunity to see that success at school gave them an opportunity to achieve high results in their careers. The ability to observe the connection is a good motivator for children. Thus, appropriate motivation is the second way for improving children’s success in school and parental role in this process.

Special room and particular time

It is natural that each individual should have its personal space. Looking deeper at the problem it may be stated that each person should also have space for particular activities. If students have specific place where they make their homework and parents control time children spend on this process, the results are going to be great. Parents should help their children create successful environment at home.

The atmosphere of studying may encourage children for better ideas, the general mood of studying should be present. Parents are responsible for this. It is appropriate if parents have an opportunity to connect this place with school it would be better as students will feel as it at classes and at the same time at home. Time scheduling is also important. When parents set specific time for homework, children know that they should spend it with profit. When this time is over, children will have time to do all they want.

Three aspects of parental success

When parents try o help their children with studying, they should remember that they must not be too insistent. To make the process of parental intrusion into children’s learning natural, parents should follow these steps. First, parents should provide their children with the information about how strategies and sources should be used. It is important not to teach but to offer the suggestive ideas about the use of the received information, not the information itself.

The second stage of parental intrusion is an attempt to deliver the necessary information by means of trying to check children’s level of understanding and speciation of the information parents want to provide to their children. The final stage of parental intrusion is emotional one. Parents should show that they care about their children and about their emotional condition. It is important to make children understand that self regulation is one of the best ways to remain in good mood and be able to cope with the tasks.^[9]

Therefore, it may be concluded that the role of parents in the learning of their children is great, but parents should not insist on direct participation in it. It is important to supply children with necessary information, provide those with required tools and follow the conditions they study in without forgetting about constant motivation and encouraging.

Endnotes

1. Anthony Feiler, et al, The Home School Knowledge Exchange Project: linking home and school to improve children’s literacy (Support for Learning, 23(1), 2008) 17.
2. Jan Hughes & Oi-man Kwok, Influence of student-teacher and parent-teacher relationships on lower achieving readers’ engagement and achievement in the primary grades (Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), 2007) 46.
3. C. McBryde, J. Ziviani, & M. Cuskelly, School readiness and factors that influence decision making (Occupational Therapy International, 11(4), 2004) 194.
4. Kathleen Vail, School technology grows up (American School Board Journal, 190(9), 2003) 36.
5. Teklu AbateBekele, Motivation and Satisfaction in Internet-Supported Learning Environments: A Review (Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 13(2), 2010) 124.
6. Abrudan Caciora Simona Veronica, Motivation in language learning (Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 17(1), 2008) 558.
7. Carin Neitzel, & Anne Dopkins Stright, Mothers’ scaffolding of children’s problem solving: Establishing a foundation of academic self-regulatory competence (Journal of Family Psychology, 17(1), 2003) 156.
8. Hannu Räty, Parents’ own school recollections influence their perception of the functioning of their child’s school (European Journal of Psychology of Education – EJPE (Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada), 22(3), 2007) 395.
9. Anne Dopkins Stright, Carin Neitzel, Kathy Garza Sears, & Linds Hoke-Sinex, Instruction begins in the home: Relations between parental instruction and children’s self-regulation in the classroom (Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(3), 2001) 457.

Reference List

Bekele, T. (2010). Motivation and Satisfaction in Internet-Supported Learning Environments: A Review. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 13(2), 116-127.

Feiler, A., Andrews, J., Greenhough, P., Hughes, M., Johnson, D., Scanlan, M., & Yee, C. W. (2008). The Home School Knowledge Exchange Project: linking home and school to improve children’s literacy. Support for Learning, 23(1), 12-18.

Hughes, J., & Kwok, O. (2007). Influence of student-teacher and parent-teacher relationships on lower achieving readers’ engagement and achievement in the primary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), 39-51.

McBryde, C., Ziviani, J., & Cuskelly, M. (2004). School readiness and factors that influence decision making. Occupational Therapy International, 11(4), 193-208.

Neitzel, C., & Stright, A. (2003). Mothers’ scaffolding of children’s problem solving: Establishing a foundation of academic self-regulatory competence. Journal of Family Psychology, 17(1), 147-159.

Räty, H. (2007). Parents’ own school recollections influence their perception of the functioning of their child’s school. European Journal of Psychology of Education – EJPE (Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada), 22(3), 387-398.

Stright, A., Neitzel, C., Sears, K., & Hoke-Sinex, L. (2001). Instruction begins in the home: Relations between parental instruction and children’s self-regulation in the classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(3), 456-466.

Vail, K. (2003). School technology grows up. American School Board Journal, 190(9), 34-37.

Veronica, A. (2008). Motivation in language learning. Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 17(1), 557-562.